Upcoming Special Issues

Theme

Immunohematology is a specialized branch of laboratory medicine which involves the study of the immunology and genetics of blood groups, blood cell antigens and antibodies, and specific blood proteins. It plays an important role in blood banking and transfusion medicine. Immunohematology problems discovered during the process of routine pre-transfusion or antenatal testing often produce fatal incompatible antibody. Because the membrane of each RBC contains millions of those antigens and transfusing a patient with the incorrect blood group may have fatal consequences. For example, when a woman becomes pregnant, and during delivery a small amount of fetal blood enters her circulation. The exposure to the fetal antigens can readily trigger immune response, which induces incompatible antibody formation. The acquired antibodies may threaten the next fetus, and expose him/her to high risk by causing HDN. So resolution of these challenging cases is fundamental to the safe practice of blood transfusion. Immune-serological techniques have been widely used to identify and resolve the diagnostic problems in these cases. Molecular techniques are also increasingly used in immunohematology to determine the antigen profile of patients, resolve more complex problems and large scale red cell genotyping.

A large number of studies are published in the field of Immunohematology. However more clinical studies are needed to enrich our understanding of blood type incompatibility and to provide an opportunity for clinicians to implement the adequate prevention of alloimmunization as well as to make timely diagnosis and to introduce treatment of hemolytic disease in newborns. Publications in this special issue aim not only to demonstrate more research findings related to immunohematology in order to optimize the resolution of incompatibility problems in various blood bank, but also to ensure better management of preventing alloimmunization and improving transfusion outcomes. In addition, It gives also insight into the genetic variability of different blood groups in different ethnicities.

Edgar Guevara

Research Fellow
CONACYT-Universidad Autonoma de San Luis Potosi
Mexico

Theme

The use of non-ionizing radiation offers great promise as a non-invasive medical diagnosis tool. Despite a limited penetration depth in living tissue, optical imaging is steadily bridging the gap between histopathology and radiology, because of its many strengths, such as its sensitivity to molecular, functional and structural content. This special issue attempts to cover novel works in biomedical research using either spectroscopic or optical imaging techniques. Contributions of both human studies and animal models are encouraged using either experimental approaches or analytical methods. In this special issue, manuscripts are welcomed on the following topics, but not limited to them:

Absorption, emission and fluorescence atomic spectroscopy

Molecular spectroscopy, including ultraviolet, visible and near-infrared, and Raman

Ajit Behera

Theme

Every year millions of people suffer from the effects of disease or degeneration in tissues and organs. Due to the limited number of organ donors, there has been an increasing need for tissue-engineered constructs or strategies to induce regenerative repair after injury (e.g., heart, blood vessels, liver, lung, bone, cartilage, kidney). The ultimate goal of regenerative engineering is to repair or replace damaged tissues by converging the principles from developmental biology, stem cell biology, materials science, engineering, and medicine. Engineering materials like biomaterials play numerous critical roles in biomedical applications. Currently, polymers are used in a wide range of biomedical applications, including applications in which the polymer remains in intimate contact with cells and tissues for prolonged periods. Hydrogels are one of the most promising classes of biomaterials for biomedical applications because they have good biocompatibility and a large amount of equilibrium water content. Polyesters (PET), fluoro polymers (PTFE), polypropylene (PP), polyurethanes (PU), and silicones have played a crucial role in the development of polymeric materials for soft tissue replacement.

This issue focuses on Major topics on engineering materials for biomedical applications like

Peter J. Mansfield

Independent Health Investigator
General Medical Council
UK

Theme

Over the years, in the past, Science has been taught as clearly separated fields. However, the excitement in integrative studies precisely bringing different fields together and resulting in new phenomena or field. It is believed that the sum of two different fields is more than its parts. The outcomes of integrative studies are truly innovative and excited. Let us have a look at the classic example of the recent past are X-ray crystallography in determining the structure of DNA, and magnetic resonance physics in medical imaging. This clearly indicates that the cross- disciplines provide ground-breaking insights. Biochemistry and Physics are two specific lines that crossed each other and drag the attention of researchers from both the fields. The special edition entitled “Research on the Edge: Where Biochemistry meets Physics” emphasizes the conventional biochemical techniques and physical phenomenons to improve the understanding of various human components such as proteins and nucleic acids. The Editor invites original reports, expert reviews and opinion, editorials and communications that that are novel and excited findings for publication in the one of the world reputed peer reviewed open access journal “Biomedical Research”.